News Center

Big increase in the number of fans in the first round of Etisalat Cup

 

The first round of the Etisalat Cup has attracted thousands of spectators to the stadiums, unlike what was happening in the previous seasons where matches were played in the absence of the UAE international players due to their participation with the National Football Team in their official games held at the GCC, Asian or international levels.

The total attendance in the six games played in the first round of the Etisalat Cup of this season, was 10,429 spectators. There is no doubt that the fans attendance will continue in the second round of the competition which will be held on Thursday and Friday, September 22nd and 23rd.

Although the density of the spectators was confined only to two games in the first round i.e.  Al Jazira and Al Wasl, Al Ain and Al Wahda, due to the big number of fans in the four clubs, but the number of fans in the other four matches was far less than that of the two abovementioned matches, as three of them did not exceed 1700 spectators, and the fourth was less than 1200 spectators. The total number of fans attended the four games: Ajman and Al Ahli, Al Shabab and Bani Yas, Sharjah and Al Nasr then Dubai and Emirates amounted to 2820 spectators, less than one of the two games played at Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium (Al-Jazira and Al Wasl), and Rashid Stadium (Al Ain and Al Wahda).

If we compare the attendance in the first round of the Etisalat Cup last season, with the current season, we find a significant difference. In the last season 2010-2011, the attendance of fans in the six matches played in the first round was 3977 spectators at a rate of 663 per match, while in this season the number of attendees was 10,429 spectators, at a rate of 1738 per match, an increase percentage of 162%.

The match between Al Ain and Al Wahda,  was attended by 3869 spectators, followed by  Al Wasl and Al Jazira ( 3740) , Ajman and Al Ahli (1164), Al Shabab  and Bani Yas (823), Sharjah and Al Nasr (488)  then Dubai and Emirates UAE (345) spectators.

There is no doubt that we like  the fans' attendance would  continue in the forthcoming weeks of the Etisalat Cup, but it seems that this will be confined only to the second round which will be held on next Thursday and Friday this week. The next match between the two neighbors Al Jazira and Al Wahda is expected to be the most popular mass, due to the strong competition between them. Moreover, Al Jazira will deavor to revenge after losing to Al Wahda in the Super Cup match, while Al Wahda will try to assure their desert to beat their rivals for the second time in a row in a period of just two weeks.

 After the end of the second round of the Etisalat Cup which will be the last for the UAE international players before entering the warm up camp on September 24th in preparation to face South Korea' in the World Cup qualifiers, the third round of the Etisalat Cup will be held on September 30th and the fourth on October 7th, and then the competition will come to a halt to pave the way for the start of the major championship, Etisalat Pro-League, which is due to kick off on October 15th.